This invention relates to electrical contact assemblies, and more particularly, to high-current female contact assemblies.
Electrical contact assemblies are well-known in the art and are typically employed for coupling an electrical device, which may be part of or connected to an electrical circuit, with an electrical conductor. Known contact assemblies typically employ a male contact, which may be a flat blade of conductive material such as copper or brass. The male contact is inserted into a female receptacle that includes a corresponding pair of contacts, typically in the form of a pair of cantilevered leaves, arranged to define an opening, such that the male contact presses against the leaves of the female contact. The leaves of the female contact are formed as cantilevered beams, and thereby exert a contact force on the male contact. The deflection of the cantilevered beams produces an orthogonal force, i.e. normal to the face of the blade, to make an electrical contact between the female contact and the male contact. To achieve the necessary substantially high normal forces required for high-current contacts, the two leaves of the female contact must be very stiff. Typically, this is achieved by (i) using either thick and therefore expensive slabs of copper or brass, (ii) hardening the leaves, which thereby significantly reduces the useful life of the leaves, or (iii) alloying the material with a grain hardening substance such as phosphor or beryllium, which serves to disadvantageously reduce the resultant conductivity of the leaves. Moreover, cantilevered beams such as those known in the art contact the respective male blade at only a single, discrete location. As is generally understood, additional contact points are desirable in that the additional contact points serve to lower the contact resistance between the leaves and the blade.
Accordingly, a high-current female contact assembly that overcomes one or more of the foregoing disadvantages is desired.